Getting 50

Hello Everyone,
When I was working on the Hutterite Colony the kids would always tell me on their birthdays that they were getting a number, so for example rather than saying, "I am ten today," they would say, "I am getting 10 today."  I tried to correct them, but didn't really make a fuss when they kept saying it cause I think it is kind of funny.  Any way I got 50 this past Friday, March 25 and I want to thank everyone who checked in with a card or an email message.  Thank you very much! If someone had said a year and a half ago that I would be getting 50 in Hong Kong I would have called them daft.  Yet it has happened and it was pretty special.  
I gave myself a little gift early on March 24 by taking my PE 20's to a driving range.  We got some instruction from a pro and then had fun blasting little white balls.  When I am relaxed I can drive a little white ball pretty good.  But put me on a course and I usually drive the little white ball into the woods or other fairway.  I hate when that happens.  Still it was fun, but my poor city kids were complaining of calloused hands after and some developed blisters.  Pansies!
On March 25 I received congratulations for turning half a century seemingly every hour by someone.  Some kids even gave me a hug which was sweet.  In the evening I had a little party with about ten friends from school who also live here in the Skytower complex. We gathered in the complex's clubhouse, which had a pool table and plenty of room.  While the girls chatted the boys played pool.  I have observed this type of behavior from kindergarten up to grade 12 to University and onto adult hood.  Girls talk more, boys play more.  That is just they way we are programmed I guess although why talk so much when you can play?  My new friends brought cards making fun of my age, (as requested by me) and some were quite good.  Some samples:
1.  50 isn't old if you're a tree.
2.  Get Well Soon-wishing you a speedy recovery.  Oh…right you're not sick you're old!
3.  Congratulations for reaching an age where you can wet your pants without feeling embarrassed.  (Ouch that one hurt a bit.)
4.  (And then my personal favorite)  Hey!  You're old.  (That was from a PE colleague who is noted for his deep, intellectual statements.)
My cake had 25 candles on it, any more would have set off the fire alarm.  It was a mango cake and quite good.  Mangos are great.
Anyways it was a nice time and I appreciated every second.
The next day I went with my deep PE buddy on a mountain bike ride around a reservoir.  I would rate it, according to a ski hill rating, a black diamond.  Lots of hills, steps, rocks, roots, cliffs, it is brutal but great.  Got home early from that, had a recovery time then went to a colleague's birthday, she "got" a quarter century younger than me, 25,  on March 26.  Ok now I feel old.  She rented a Hong Kong tram and asked us to dress gangsta.  Huh?  Not sure what a gansta is so I dressed kinda like a gangsTER.  So I travelled 2 hours through the middle of Hong Kong on this tram with these kids dressed like gangstas. Then we went to a German hofbrau haus type restaurant where we ate wurstals and had a beer and listened to a Chinese band playing ABBA songs.  When asked why they don't play German polka music, because that would of course be appropriate considering the setting and all, they replied, "we only sing happy songs."  Ouch!  That stung a bit considering my Germanic blood.  Well whatever, as I keep telling you, Hong Kong is a strange and exotic place where it is normal to expect the bizarre.  All you can really do is laugh.
So I hope you all have a great week and pray for me as I try to get that ridiculous ABBA song, "Dancing Queen," out of my head.
Love, Adios, and Peng On!

Dirk

Stretched

Hello All,
Finally got the pictures of me abzeiling off a cliff.  That was a rush.  Adding to the drama was the ocean crashing against the rocks nearby.

The disaster in Japan has had some effect here in Hong Kong.  The daily English newspaper has assured us that we are too far from the plates that destroyed New Zealand and Japan, the nuclear reactor nearby is safe too, plus the islands of The Philippines will protect us from any Tsunami, and the winds are blowing towards North America so no problem about radioactive fallout.  Still someone spread the news that salt has properties that will protect you from radiation so there was a mad rush here in Hong Kong to buy salt.  Vendors were selling it for 10 times the normal cost.  Huh?  I bought three bags of chips and I am counting on their salt content to save me.  Eating salt raw does not appeal to me at all.  Guess if I was really desperate I could just run over to the harbour and drink sea water, but it is kind of polluted, so I would probably die from that.  No, I think I will go back to the chip idea.

There was also an email going around that we were not to go outside, especially in the rain due to radiation.  After some panic it was deemed a prank.  Still on the serious side there are quite a few Japanese kids at my school and while their relatives are safe in Japan it still is tough knowing your country has suffered such a disaster.

This week I supervised a group of kids who formed a club at school called the Social Justice Club.  Twice a month they go to downtown Kowloon near the infamous Night Market, where you can buy knock off items at knock off prices, and help a mission bring food for the homeless.  I was surprised at how many homeless there are in Hong Kong and that they are all quite old.  The people who received the food were all very grateful and we had fun chatting with them.  Of course the kids had to translate for me, but I learned some Cantonese that night.  Jesus Love You sounds like So Oily and peace is Peng On.  Afterwards I took a taxi to my comfortable apartment and had a snack.  I have a lot to be thankful for.
So whether it is repelling over a cliff or helping feed the homeless my experiences through the school here in Hong Kong have been priceless so far and I am very grateful for them.    Thanks for your care and comments.  Have a great week.
Adios and Peng On!
Dirk

Zhongshan

Hello All,
Well I had an interesting weekend this weekend.  Actually since I arrived here in Hong Kong every weekend has been interesting, but this one was really interesting.  On Friday after school I caught the ferry with two other teachers from the Kowloon pier and headed over the Pearl Delta to Zhongshan, China, pronounced Jong san to help supervise thirty-five high school kids from my school.  These kids are part of a school club called GID (Glow in the Dark.)  It is named this because as Christians we are to shine God's light on a dark and hurting world.  Three to four times a year this group heads into China and spends several hours with students from a local school playing games with them and doing other cultural activities.  They also spend time visiting Christian missions and do singing programs at local churches.  This program is run by a man named King Yu.  What a great name, but its for real.  Most Chinese people have a Chinese and English name.  King's english is King.  The Chinese word for King is Wong, which is as common as Smith in Canada.  Any way  King is a calculous teacher at CAIS and has run this club for 11 years.
Once my collegues and I arrived in Zhongshan a driver picked us up and took us to the hotel where we met up with King and the GID group.  They were allowed to leave earlier, but because I and my fellow teachers had to instruct some classes we were released later.

We had a lavish eight course meal at the hotel.  King loves to eat and we did not go hungry over the weekend.  Every meal was a lavish 8-10 course extrvaganza.  I ate fish, shrimp, pork, chicken, lamb, basically every common farm animal, (I hope not dog, but I am not sure) and vegetables galore.  Eggplant, cabbage, corn, bok choy, etc, etc, breakfast consisted of dumblings and this soup thing called congi.  One thing I learned about chinese eating habits  that I had never known before is that it is common to clean your plates with the tea that is brought to the table.  I tried, I made a mess, I will carry on like I did before and trust my stomach to handle any strange bacteria that enters in.  Good so far.

On Saturday morning we took a drive into the country and had a "cultural experience," on a farm.  For the GID kids and those from Zhongshan it was a unique experience since they are all city kids.  After playing some ice breaker games like tag, and with the parachute, we went to a farmers field and were allowed to pick tomatoes. cabbage, and carrots.  I showed the Chinese how to pull out a carrot.  Wiggle first then pull gradually.  They were impressed with my farming skills, but that is about the extent of it.  The kids were also allowed to catch chickens.  That was funny because the kids were as skittish as the chickens.

After another amazing 8-10 course lunch we headed into Zhongshan and met up with a church youth group in a massive echoing gym.  My hearing has eroded over the years due to teaching gym and well, it took another hit from 100 loud kids.  Hopefully I will still have some hearing left when I retire.  From there we headed with the group to another 8-10 course "tea", really it was a lavish meal and gorged ourselves once again.  One of the kids on the trip, Shiloh, who interesting enough has never been to North America and has been raised in Hong Kong by Italian parents, became a bit of a rock star due to his blond hair and teeny bopper good looks.  My height was interesting to most of the kids, but Shiloh was the star and he must have signed a hundred autographs while on tour, I mean on our trip.

Once the meal was over we broke into groups and headed to different homes throughout Zhongshan.  It was very interesting to see how a typical Chinese family lived.  Zhongshan is for the most part a very clean and modern city and the house we visited was pretty good.  Yet the strange part was that the lower level of the house was a hair dressing salon.  So we visited in the waiting room.  During our conversation the husband and wife took turns cutting people's hair.  I tell you China is a little different.  It is part of the deal.  Any way one of the kids, Natalie, knew Cantonese and was our interpreter.  I learned that Christianity is growing by leaps and bounds in China.  The government is allowing "registered" churches to exist because they see the economic benefits of having good hard working and benevolent Christians in their society.  Yet, the government does not want unregistered home churches.  In fact you face imprisonment if caught at an "illegal" home church. These churches are however, thriving.  Many people feel constricted by the officials that monitor registered churches and wish to express their devotion to God in ways that may not be approved by the government.  Such things as prophecy, speaking in tongues, being slain in the spirit does not have government approval in China and this of course reflects a paranoid and ignorant attitude.  How can any government control God and what He wants to do.  Interesting enough the fact that the government will persecute those who don't toe their religious line has caused the home church movement to explode.  One of the most dangerous things Christians are doing in China is helping those who escape North Korea to find refugee in South Korea.  China is buds with North Korea so they would not be happy if you were helping the enemy.  Yet just like the underground railway helped black slaves flee into free  Canada at great peril to the white people who helped them, so it is with the Chinese Christians helping those to freedom.

After the home visit we headed back to the hotel and collapsed from an exhausting, but great day.
On Sunday we headed to a local church.  The pastor, Pastor Wong (King, not kidding) wore a tie that didn't match, a dress coat, and jeans, (guy is probably not married,) but in my books a pastor that wears jeans and wears their hair a little too long is probably a decent and very real guy.  Obviously the Chinese church police don't really care either about Pastor Wong's clothes and hair.
The kids did a great job with their presentations and we teachers got in to the act reading scripture in five different languages, to show our school's international dimension, and then having it translated by one of the kids.  So we presented in mandarin, cantonese, english, french and german.  Guess who got to say his thing in German?  Weird to speak German in China to people who have no clue was ich sage. (What I am saying) Still it was kind of fun.

After church guess what?  We gorged again on another 10-15 course meal or was it 8-10 I don't know, but except for chicken head I pretty well tried everything and so far I am holding up just fine and I hope it continues.

So all in all it was a great time and the next trip will be in June to some isolated Chinese villages.  I am signed up ready to go.  That will be verrrry interrressting.  Adios my wonderful family and friends till next time.

Your Dirk

    

Its a little different

Hello All,
It is pretty obvious that things are a little different here.  This week I am posting some of the more bizarre things that are within walking distance of my humble abode.  It is early March and the temp is low 20's, above that is!  Stores tend to be really small, they have no doors and much of their wares spill out onto the streets.

There is a park nearby,  which once was an apartment complex called the Kowloon Walled City.  It had the highest concentration of people on earth.  Google Kowloon Walled City and check out the pictures.  KWC was also a dangerous lawless place that was even avoided by the police.  After it was demolished in the early 1990's a beautiful park was built.  There are some pretty cool things like a jogging track, basketball and soccer pitches, a biking track for kids, playground and lots of interesting plant life.  It also has occasionally some weird exhibits.  An exhibit of lamp stands with shades along one of the paths at the park has to be one of the strangest things I have ever seen.  It is like they went into peoples' homes and asked if they could borrow their lamps for a while.  Huh?  At night this display was even more unusual.  When you walked by each lamp they would turn off and on and make some weird, kind of spooky sound.  What the…?  Bizarre!

Kowloon City where I live seems to never shut down either.  Hong Kong is the same way.  On Saturday night I was jostling with literally hundreds of people on the street.  The place was hopping, restaurants were full and lights were on every where, kids were playing basketball and soccer.  The time?  9:15 pm.  Apparently they just get going at that time.  Yet apartments are small, the weather is grand, things are happening, so why not.

And finally a great Chinglish sign.  It says:  No dog is allowed to foul.  Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
What!  Who made the law that dogs are not allowed to foul?  Love the visual too.

I live in a strange and exotic place.  A little wacky at times, but never boring.  Next week I am in mainland China.  Now that will be interesting.

Adios folks,

Dirk